delicately
del·i·cate·ly/ˈdɛlɪkətli/adverb
delicately is spelled D-E-L-I-C-A-T-E-L-Y: 10 letters and 4 syllables (del·i·cate·ly). It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, delicately means “In a delicate manner; exquisitely” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in delicately?
| Letters | 10: D-E-L-I-C-A-T-E-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: del·i·cate·ly |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,150th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is delicately?
Delicately appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,150th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce delicately?
- /ˈdɛlɪkətli/
Delicately has 4 syllables, split del·i·cate·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-delicately.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of delicately
- more delicately comparative
- most delicately superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does delicately mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
In a delicate manner; exquisitely.
The gingerbread was delicately, if imprecisely, captured by the brushstrokes.
- 2
Tactfully.
He approached the main subject delicately.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Delicately in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense in a delicate manner:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | délicatement |
| Portuguese | delicadamente |
| Spanish | delicadamente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does delicately come from?
From delicate + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).